BABYFACE, GAYLE, HARDY, WALKER HAYES, THOMAS RHETT, AND MATTHEW WEST AMONG FIRST PERFORMERS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 5TH ANNUAL NASHVILLE SONGWRITER AWARDS PRESENTED BY CITY NATIONAL BANK
Tickets On Sale Friday, July 15, 2022 at 10AM CT
Nashville, Tennessee (July 13, 2022) – The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) has revealed the first round of performers joining NSAI on September 20, 2022 at the Ryman Auditorium to take part in the 5th annual Nashville Songwriter Awards presented by City National Bank.
Announced performers include: PAT ALGER, TONY ARATA, BABYFACE, KENT BLAZY, JACOB DAVIS, GAYLE, HARDY, WALKER HAYES, JOSH JENKINS, MATT JENKINS, MATT MCGINN, THOMAS RHETT, MATT ROGERS, JENN SCHOTT, NATHAN SPICER, AND MATTHEW WEST, with additional appearances to be revealed soon. A night dedicated to those that create the music we all cherish, the spotlight will be shining bright on the beloved songwriter!
Tickets for the 5th annual Nashville Songwriter Awards presented by City National Bank, go on sale Friday, July 15, 2022 at 10:00 A.M. CT and can be purchased at ryman.com.
“City National Bank has long supported the music industry and we are honored to help present the 5th annual Nashville Songwriters Awards,” said Diane Pearson and Lori Badgett, Co-Heads of City National Bank Entertainment Division, Nashville. “We look forward to this fantastic lineup of performers and offer a special congratulations to Garth Brooks and Jon Platt for their invaluable contributions to the music industry.”
"You don’t want to miss NSAI's upcoming 5th annual Nashville Songwriter Awards," NSAI Board President Steve Bogard declared. "We’ll be celebrating the '10 Songs I Wish I'd Written' awards, a category voted on exclusively by our pro members, as well as several other achievements and those writers and artists will fill the stage! There’s a lot to celebrate this year and our great songs and songwriters are at the top of the list."
In addition to celebrating the '10 Songs I Wish I'd Written' and the song, songwriter, and songwriter-artist of the year awards, the evening will also include segments honoring previously announced award recipients, GARTH BROOKS and JON PLATT (Chairman & CEO, Sony Music Publishing).
BROOKS will be honored as the 2022 recipient of the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award. An award bestowed to an individual whose works have made a significant contribution to the American songbook and one who has inspired the careers of others, the Kris Kristofferson Lifetime Achievement Award has only been given to three other individuals since its inception, with those honorees being Loretta Lynn (2019 recipient), Bill Anderson (2018 recipient) and Willie Nelson (2013 recipient).
Sony Music Publishing Chairman and CEO Jon Platt will receive the NSAI President's Keystone Award in recognition of his significant contributions to the betterment of songwriters. Platt’s dedication to the songwriting community has led to many songwriter-first initiatives at Sony Music Publishing. Platt also enabled Sony Music Publishing’s donation of over a half million-dollars to NSAI in support of the WRITER Foundation, which has provided numerous $1,000 grants to American songwriters and composers in need throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the most up-to-date award information, visit www.nashvillesongwriters.com and follow @NSAIofficial / #songwriterawards on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Official 2022 Nashville Songwriter Awards Sponsors: Presenting Sponsor City National Bank, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Loeb & Loeb, Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation (NCVC), Jack Daniel’s, Recording Academy’s Songwriters & Composers Wing™, Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) and other supporting sponsors.
About Babyface
Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds (born April 10, 1958) is a 12-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist, songwriter, producer, and one of the most celebrated creative forces in music history. He is the only producer to win the ‘Producer of the Year’ category four times, three times of which was in consecutive years
(1995-1997); a record he holds to this day. Kenny is also co-founder of the legendary record label LaFace, which launched the careers of artists like Usher, Toni Braxton, TLC, Outkast, and Pink.
From humble beginnings in Indianapolis, Kenny developed his love for music early on when he began songwriting at the age of 12. Upon graduating high school, he got signed to his first record deal after joining the band, Manchild. In the 1980s, he broke into the music world as guitarist and songwriter for the R&B band, The Deele, where he met future LaFace co-founder LA Reid.
Artistry:
Over the past five decades, he released three consecutive multi-platinum albums: Tender Lover (1989), featuring the #1 “Tender Lover”; For the Cool in You (1993), which included “Never Keeping Secrets” and “When Can I See You”; and The Day (1996) featuring “Every Time I Close My Eyes.”
In 2014, he collaborated with Toni Braxton and released the Grammy Award-winning album Love, Marriage & Divorce.
Babyface has written and produced hits for artists like Bobby Brown, Boyz II Men, Eric Clapton, Madonna, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Mary J Blige, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, Phil Collins, Janet Jackson, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, Faith Evans, Jay Z, Stevie Wonder, Chris Brown, John Mayer, Lionel Richie, Michael Bolton, Kenny G, Lil Wayne, Luther Vandross, Barbara Streisand, Puff Daddy, Bruno Mars, and countless others.
Awards:
Babyface has contributed to over 800 million records sold and over a billion records streamed. He has produced and written 125 Top 10 Hits, 42 number 1 R&B hits, and 16 number 1 pop hits. In addition to winning a total of 12 Grammys, he has been nominated 79 times.
Throughout his career, Babyface has won the BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year trophy seven times, received a total of 51 BMI Awards, as well as 4 American Music Awards, 5 Soul Train Awards, and 5 NAACP Image awards.
He also produced and co-wrote the Oscar winning song ‘When You Believe,’ sung by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.
Achievements:
In 1999, Kenny’s home state Indiana named a highway after him, and in 2013, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2017, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Charity:
Babyface is a passionate philanthropist, actively supporting the Carousel of Hope, which benefits the Children’s Diabetes Foundation, the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, Larry Ruvo’s “Keep Memory Alive,” and Stand Up for Cancer. In the past, he has also lent his support to FasterCures, VH-1 Save the Music, United Negro College Fund, the David Foster Foundation, and the Mike Milken Prostate Cancer Foundation.
www.babyfacemusic.com
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About GAYLE
Fearlessly honest and undeniably magnetic, 18-year-old singer/songwriter GAYLE creates the kind of self-possessed pop music that’s empowering for both artist and audience. Since making her debut with the boldly confessional “dumbass”—a heavily playlisted track that premiered in early 2020—the Nashville-based musician independently released a series of singles built on her unfiltered yet beautifully nuanced brand of songwriting. Now signed to Atlantic Records/Arthouse Records, GAYLE is sharing songs that reveal her larger-than-life personality and willingness to expose her deepest insecurities and desires. Her now RIAA 2x Platinum-certified debut Atlantic single “abcdefu” has racked up over 1.7B streams to date and held #1 on Top 40 radio for 3 consecutive weeks, along with hitting #3 on Billboard’s “Hot 100” after reaching #1 on a range of charts, including sitting at #1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts for nine consecutive weeks, and for four consecutive weeks on the Billboard Global 200. Recently featured as YouTube’s “Artist On The Rise,” an Amazon “Artist to Watch 2022,” MTV’s February “Global Push Artist,” a Billboard Music Award finalist, and one of Billboard’s 2022 “21 Under 21,” further press highlights include a Billboard magazine Chartbreakers feature that highlights GAYLE’s chart-topping success with “abcdefu.” GAYLE made her late night network TV debut earlier this year with a captivating interview and electrifying performance of “abcdefu” on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and visited CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden for a spectacular live performance of “ur just horny,” streaming HERE. GAYLE has also captivated audiences worldwide, bringing her electric stage presence to a sold-out headline tour and shows supporting AJR, Tate McRae, My Chemical Romance, and more. With her recently released debut EP a study of the human experience volume one, GAYLE is intent on making music that offers her listeners a certain emotional freedom.
About HARDY
Big Loud Records’ heavy hitter HARDY broke out with critically acclaimed 2020 debut album, A ROCK, “an album that owes as much to AC/DC as George Jones” and “one of the most self-assured full-length debut albums in years'' (Billboard). The project joins countrified mixtape HIXTAPE VOL. 1 and most-recent HIXTAPE VOL. 2, as well as career-launching EPs THIS OLE BOY and WHERE TO FIND ME. HARDY is the 2022 ACM Songwriter of the Year and two-time AIMP Songwriter of the Year, additionally nominated for New Artist of the Year at the 2021 CMA Awards. One of CRS’ 2021 New Faces of Country Music, a two-time CMA Triple Play award recipient and a Vevo DSCVR artist, the pride of Philadelphia, Miss. has earned his reputation as "a breakout in the making" (HITS). HARDY has co-penned 11 #1 singles since 2018, including his own chart-topping, double platinum-certified single “ONE BEER” feat. Lauren Alaina + Devin Dawson, and most-recent #1 alongside Dierks Bentley + BRELAND, “Beers On Me.” Serving as direct support on Morgan Wallen's Dangerous Tour now, HARDY has also opened for Jason Aldean, FGL, Chris Lane, Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell and more.
About Walker Hayes
Monument Records recording artist, Walker Hayes, is a singer/songwriter originally from Mobile, Alabama. Last year, his smash hit “Fancy Like” topped every country music sales and streaming chart, spent more than 6 months at the No.1 spot on the Billboard Country Songs Chart, hit the top 5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Songs, hit number one at country radio, and gave Hayes his first GRAMMY Award nomination as an artist for Best Country Song. The song was also featured in a nationwide Applebee’s commercial. That track, as well as follow up single “AA,” and new song “Y’all Life,” have made Hayes one of the top selling and streamed artists in country music.
Hayes has performed his music, including the Double-Platinum RIAA certified hit “You Broke Up With Me,” to national audiences on Good Morning America, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and the TODAY Show, and he was profiled for CBS Sunday Morning. This fall, he sets out on his headlining arena tour, The Glad You’re Here Tour, which is the same title as the book he released with his best friend, Craig Allen Cooper, detailing his journey to finding Christ.
About Thomas Rhett
Ten years after signing his record deal with Big Machine Label Group’s The Valory Music Co., arena-packing superstar Thomas Rhett — dubbed “the most reliable maker of No. 1 singles in country music” (Variety) — has 19 multi-PLATINUM and GOLD-certified No. 1 hits, 12 BILLION streams and the longest current active streak of consecutive No. 1s in the format (Mediabase/Country Aircheck Chart). Declared “a prince in the genre” (USA Today), he has been honored with eight ACM Awards including Entertainer of the Year, two CMA Awards, five GRAMMY nominations, plus trophies from the CMT Music Awards, Billboard Awards and iHeartRadio Awards, in addition to being recognized with two CMA Triple Play awards for penning three No. One songs within a 12-month period. The superstar’s critically-acclaimed sixth studio album WHERE WE STARTED is available now. Inspired by family, friends and his love of the outdoors, Thomas Rhett is the cofounder of Dos Primos Tequila and is collaborating with Chaco on an exclusive sandal line. He is currently taking the hits on the road with his BRING THE BAR TO YOU TOUR. For more information, visit www.ThomasRhett.com.
About Matthew West
Matthew West is a five-time GRAMMY® nominee, a multiple ASCAP Christian Music Songwriter/Artist of the Year winner and the reigning K-Love Fan Awards Male Artist of the Year. He has received an American Music Award, Billboard Music Award, Dove Award and was named Billboard’s Hot Christian Songwriter of the Year. A recipient of the Rich Mullins Impact Award, West also received a Primetime Emmy® Award nomination for Original Music & Lyrics for the title track for the feature film “The Heart of Christmas.” He has been awarded RIAA Gold and Platinum certifications and has had 24 top 10 songs as an artist.
Dubbed by Billboard as a “well-rounded songwriter,” he’s notched 12 number one songs as a songwriter and had 12 number 1 singles as an artist, including his most recent multi-week No. 1 song “What If.” It followed back-to-back No. 1 hits with “The God Who Stays” and “Truth Be Told,” which he later recorded a duet rendition with country superstar Carly Pearce. His current single "Me on Your Mind" is currently top 5 and climbing the chart. In addition to his own recording career, he has more than 130 songwriting credits to his name, including cuts by Rascal Flatts, Scotty McCreery, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Mandisa, Danny Gokey and others, along with back-to-back No. 1 songs by Casting Crowns including their recent single, “Nobody,” which West is featured.
Adding author to his list of accolades, West has written five books to date: Give This Christmas Away, The Story Of Your Life, Forgiveness, Today Is Day One and his latest, Hello, My Name Is. His sixth book, "The God Who Stays" is set for release in September 2022. Fans can also hear him on “The Matthew West Podcast” which just surpassed an impressive 2 million downloads. West is also passionate about providing hope and healing through the power of prayer and story. Along with his father, Pastor Joe West, they founded popwe, a non-profit ministry helping others to craft, share, and live a more meaningful life.
For more information visit www.matthewwest.com or follow him on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube.